All Roads Lead Home (Book #1)

Chapter 2

Dads call is late. He's never late. Especially since Jay is here. It's been about three hours past the time he usually calls. I glance at Jay over the top of my journal. He's too busy playing COD on the Xbox to notice me staring at him.

"Jay, should I be worried that dad hasn't called to check in yet? Jay? Are you even listening to me?" I use my pen as a placeholder in the journal and lay it down on the coffee table. "Jay put your controller down for a second and listen to me." Still nothing. "Jay, wanna have sex?"

"Did you just say you wanna have sex?" The game pauses and he tosses the controller on the recliner next to him. Typical Jay. "I'm game."

"No, just listen for a second. Dad hasn't called yet. I'm worried something might have happened."

"He's the police chief. He's probably busy with paperwork and other boring things. He'll call you when he gets a break. Besides, if something happened someone would have either called or come to the house," Jay says as he pulls me closer to him. "Now, back to that s-".

"I'm going to call him." I grab my cell and hit dads name. Voicemail. "No answer."

"I told you he's busy," Jay says as he starts kissing my neck, slowly trailing down across my collarbone. "Now can we get back to that sex?" he says with a grin. He trails his hand down to my waist and slips it back up under my sweater and across my exposed stomach.

He just gets his jeans unzipped when the house phone rings. "That must be dad," I say as I untangle my legs from his and answer the phone. "Hello?... Yes, this is Krystah..." Jay hangs his head and zips his jeans back up. 'Sorry' I whisper to him. "Wait, are you serious?... And you're sure it was my dad? Chief Blaine?..." Jay's looking at me now, trying to hear the person on the other end.

He's mouthing something. I think he's asking if I'm okay. "Oh my God... No, it was only the two of us... No, I don't know of any other relatives. Mom left him when I was young..." I shake my head no to answer Jay's question. "Well, I'll be 18 in a month... Okay... Thanks for calling me...".

The room is spinning as I look at Jay. The phone slips from my hand and crashes to the floor. "Krys? Hey, what happened?" Jay grabs me as I begin to sink to the ground, knees buckling. "Krys?"

I look up. His face is blurry through the tears. "Dad got shot. He was trying to stop a store robbery and they shot him." An uncontrolled tear runs down my cheek as a sob escapes. Jay pulls me closer. "They don't know if he's going to make it. They think the bullet may have hit somewhere around his heart. I'm losing my dad Jay," I say as more tears fall freely down my cheeks.

"Oh my God." Jay holds me tighter than he's ever done before. I feel my knees buckle again. "Come on, I'll take you to the hospital," he says as he begins to lead me to the door.

"My phone. I need my phone and my purse," I say as another sob rips from my throat. Jay grabs my phone and tosses it in my purse, then guides me out to his truck.

"I... I have... to call... Eth-Ethan and Ava," I say through the sobs.

"I'll call them. You just focus on your breathing, okay?" Jay says as he climbs behind the wheel. I simply nod my head. He dials Ethan's number before he pulls out of the driveway.

"Hey Ethan, it's Jayden... Yeah, that's Krystah... We're on our way to the hospital... Marcus was shot and they're not sure if he'll survive the wound... Okay, we'll see you there... Bye." Jay ends the call. "Ethan and Ava are going to meet us there." A single nod tells him I heard him.

The whole ride to the hospital we didn't talk. No words seemed to form right now. We just held hands while more tears and sobs racked my body. Jay squeezes my hand tighter. I'm losing my dad and I can't do anything to stop it.

But I still need my dad.